deadvicsage
asked:
It seems like both Marvel and DC should have a person whose full-time job is to try to get comic books in the checkout line at WalMart and Target. Especially all-ages comics. Is there something keeping the big two from getting that kind of distribution? Why can Archie do it and not Marvel?
As you’d imagine, that checkout space is prime real estate and very costly. Archie has it because their arrangements and prices were set and fixed by contract decades ago. But in the times that assorted companies have tried it since then, the cost of accessing the space was more than the revenue that any sales from those areas brought it. It’s all part of the fact that mainstream magazine publishing is in a catastrophic freefall as a business right now, a situation that’s not likely to change any time soon as digital becomes more and more the prevalent format.